Yesterday I spent a couple of hours outside tidying up the garden. Now this isn’t my ideal way to spend my Saturday, but the funny thing I actually quite enjoyed it. As someone who has an office job and spends quite a bit of his free time on the internet (in particular maintaining this blog!), it was nice to be outside in the sun and with the trees and plants that make up our garden.

The first I really came to appreciate the great outdoors was when I lived in Banff in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in ‘03/’04. There is something magical about the Rockies that anyone who has witnessed them will understand. I can still remember when I first laid my eyes upon them - I had fallen asleep on the bus from Calgary to Banff and I distinctly remember thinking whoah when I opened my eyes and saw the beauty of the mountains for the first time.

I think the Canadian Rockies have left such an imprint on me is because I had never seen anything like them. Western Australia is a beautiful place - with its rugged outback, pristine coastline and old growth forests - but it does not have any big mountains. We also don’t get any snow (Banff was the first place I witnessed snow).

This post is not really about breathtaking scenary though. I mention the Rockies and Western Australia only because their stunning beauty have made me look differently at the nature that surrounds me on a daily basis. I have realised that being outdoors makes me feel at peace. How do I try to connect to nature then whilst living in a large city? The gardening I did yesterday was a bit of a one off, but a couple of things I try to do are:

• Exercise outdoors: swimming, running, golf and weights are just some of the sports I enjoy doing.
• Have lunch outside: I can’t believe that even on a beautiful day a large proportion of my work colleagues will take their lunch in the depressing staff lunchroom. It takes me 3 minutes to walk to the closest park. I notice a huge difference in my happiness and mood in the afternoon after having lunch in the park, compared to when I sit in the lunchroom (usually only if the weather is terrible).

Tags: Wellbeing, personal growth //